History NintendoHard / HackNSlashGames

* The 8-bit era ''VideoGame/NinjaGaiden'' games are notoriously difficult. Gamers who could clear ''VideoGame/MegaMan'' and ''Battletoads'' in their sleep would curse about trying to clear any of them (the first was by far the hardest, but all of them were steep challenges).

* ''X2: Wolverine's Revenge''. Despite Wolverine's healing factor(slowly) regenerating his heath(if his claws are retracted), many gamers will refer to this as one of the hardest games of the PS2/Gamecube/Xbox generation that is still POSSIBLE for non-hardcore gamers to beat. The [[CheckPointStarvation utter lack of mid-level checkpoints]] becomes an exercise in psychosis the longer the game goes on, occasionally featuring long stealth segments where being spotted once is an immediate game over. The Juggernaut boss fight has one of these leading up to it, so every time you lose to him you have to spend five to ten minutes sneaking your way there again just to be allowed another shot, and he's ''not'' a two-tries boss.

* ''VideoGame/{{Strider}}''. But that's part of what makes it so ''awesome''.

* ''VideoGame/{{Strider}}''. But that's part of what makes it so ''awesome''.
* The 8-bit era ''NinjaGaiden'' games are notoriously difficult. Gamers who could clear ''VideoGame/MegaMan'' and ''Battletoads'' in their sleep would curse about trying to clear any of them (the first was by far the hardest, but all of them were steep challenges).

** The modern remake of ''NinjaGaiden'' is little kinder, even with a LifeMeter and some reasonably potent armament. Its director Tomonobu Itagaki has boasted that only 10% of gamers would be able to complete its highest "Master Ninja" difficulty, and ignoring the ridiculously superlative feats of the title's most hardcore enthusiasts, this claim seems to have held true. On the other hand, given that the game has been praised for responsive control, some argue that the title isn't using FakeDifficulty so much as forcing players to always remain focused against the MookChivalry-dishonoring hordes.

* ''Crossed Swords'' is a hack n' slash game revolving around blocking and countering your opponent's attacks. There's only one problem with that though; every single enemy's tells go by so quickly that you only have a millisecond to react to them. Thus your only strategy if you don't have superhuman reflexes is to just block high or low and hope that's where they attack from. Fortunately, it's one of those "continue right where you left off when you die" arcade games, so it's still beatable if you [[BribingYourWayToVictory don't mind continuing a lot.]]

* The original American release of ''DevilMayCry 3'' is stupidly hard for all but dedicated fans to pick up, since in the US version "Normal" was actually the Japanese version's "Hard" difficulty. ''DevilMayCry 1'', ''3'' and ''4'' on the aptly named "[[HarderThanHard Dante Must Die]]" mode are also noteworthy.

*** [[PennyArcade Shit damn Ninja Gaiden is hard,]] [[http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/08 it’s so hard that your friends will die.]]

* ''WarriorsOfMightAndMagic'' has several extremely hard levels: The third one is a complicated maze full of golems and gargoyles and a bottomless chasm ''in the main nexus area''. Then we have the City Of Magic: say hello, to a long, frustrating level filled with [[DemonicSpiders Minotaurs]] and [[GoddamnBats Draining Eyes]], often in the very same room. The last level combine a maze of stone bridges suspended upon an abyss with lots of powerful demons, and has no shame in sending [[BossInMookClothing Demon Guardians]] against you often.
* ''DynastyWarriors'' and ''SamuraiWarriors'' tend to not be too difficult, [[ThatOneBoss some bosses]] and the [[ThatOneLevel occasional stage]] aside. Then you're introduced to Samurai Warriors 3 and its bonus mode known as Murasame Castle. Let's note here that the Murasame Castle challenge is, in fact, based on an early Famicom game of the same name, which was not exactly known for playing fair either. [[OhCrap They literally brought back every single obstacle in the Famicom game to Samurai Warriors 3.]] Beating the first form of the castle, with its death traps, damage floors, and other unpleasant surprises, is tricky enough. [[UpToEleven Good luck with the castle's second form]], which you have to beat to receive the TrueEnding.

** For most of the first

** For most of the first game, when you ran out of lives, you started again at the beginning of the level. Losing a life while fighting any of the three final bosses, however, sent you back ''three'' levels. Level 6-2 was by far the hardest level in the game, and dying at any final boss would, yes, force you to do it again. And after fighting each of the three final bosses you would get a health refill but lose whatever Ninja Art you had, which made it almost impossible to win against bosses # 2 and # 3! The only way most players could beat the final bosses was to play through the last few levels of the game three times, and manage to arrive at each final boss with the one Ninja Art that could one-shot any boss (the Air Slash). But beating 6-2 three times... *shudder*
*** Fun fact: that "restart stage 6-2 after dying to any boss" bit? It was originally a programming error, but [[GoMadFromTheRevelation the developers liked it so much they left it in.]]
** The original, for all its insanely hard enemies doing their best at killing you, had a few saving graces for the elite players willing to make it through to the end. First, by holding the jump button after sticking to a wall and rapidly taping left and right, Ryu would climb up walls, a [[AscendedGlitch feature only implemented in the second and third game]]. This gave sneaky players a fighting chance when landing a pixel short of a platform jump or fighting the BigBad. Also, cinematic sequences had the odd effect of refilling your life bar, though if you blew your attempt at the ensuing boss fights, the [[UnstableEquilibrium next attempt went right to the battle]] with no cinematic or life refill. If you missed your first chance at fighting the final boss... well, there's always the reset button!
** The modern remake of ''NinjaGaiden'' is little kinder, even with a LifeMeter and some reasonably potent armament. Its director Tomonobu Itagaki has boasted that only 10% of gamers would be able to complete its highest "Master Ninja" difficulty, and ignoring the ridiculously superlative feats of the title's most hardcore enthusiasts, this claim seems to have held true. On the other hand, given that the game has been praised for responsive control, some argue that the title isn't using FakeDifficulty so much as forcing players to always remain focused against the MookChivalry-dishonoring hordes.
*** The sequel lives up to the merciless mook swarm standards of the original, and adds some FakeDifficulty in the form of camera issues and slowdown to boot.
** ''Ninja Gaiden III'', a difficult enough game in its Japanese Famicom release, was deliberately made ''far'' more difficult when it was released on the NES in the United States. Just about ''all'' the enemies do at least three bars of damage (on previous games, and on the Japanese version, only a few strong enemies inflicted that much pain). To make matters worse, while the Japanese game had passwords allowing the game to be completed in multiple sittings, the U.S. version not only did not have this, but limited the player to 5 continues.
** To put it simply, Ninja Gaiden is like dodging rain.
*** [[PennyArcade Shit damn Ninja Gaiden is hard,]] [[http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/08 it’s so hard that your friends will die.]]
* ''X2: Wolverine's Revenge''. Despite Wolverine's healing factor(slowly) regenerating his heath(if his claws are retracted), many gamers will refer to this as one of the hardest games of the PS2/Gamecube/Xbox generation that is still POSSIBLE for non-hardcore gamers to beat. The [[CheckPointStarvation utter lack of mid-level checkpoints]] becomes an exercise in psychosis the longer the game goes on, occasionally featuring long stealth segments where being spotted once is an immediate game over. The Juggernaut boss fight has one of these leading up to it, so every time you lose to him you have to spend five to ten minutes sneaking your way there again just to be allowed another shot, and he's ''not'' a two-tries boss.
** A level where you use a giant mounted laser cannon to pick off enemy troops from a hundred yards away seems like it's going to be a BreatherLevel. The player quickly learns it's a five minute long gauntlet of pain where you can either memorize the exact timing and locations of each incoming wave of troops, or lose every time.
*** Ditto for an earlier one where you remotely control a "Void Droid", an advanced prison-guarding robot with a minigun and plasma cannon. It's slow, difficult to maneuver and anything but indestructible, which is bad news for non-fans of going all the way back to the beginning of the long, arduous level if the Void Droid gets scrapped before it can cross the level and open an otherwise impassable door. Ironically, when you have to face identical Void Droids as Wolverine later on, they're terrifying obstacles.
*** Magneto. Mother-bleeping Magneto. To beat him, [[GuideDangIt you have to use one particular attack from one particular spot]] (while dodging the wide and painful arrangement of things he'll send flying your way) to knock him down and beat the crap out of him. If that wasn't bad enough, you're on a clock -- beat him before he gets his power-dampening collar off and instantly murders you. And to make it worse, he's not even the final boss. If there was ever a time and place to use the built-in [[CheatCode Invincibility code]], now would be it.
* ''WarriorsOfMightAndMagic'' has several extremely hard levels: The third one is a complicated maze full of golems and gargoyles and a bottomless chasm ''in the main nexus area''. Then we have the City Of Magic: say hello, to a long, frustrating level filled with [[DemonicSpiders Minotaurs]] and [[GoddamnBats Draining Eyes]], often in the very same room. The last level combine a maze of stone bridges suspended upon an abyss with lots of powerful demons, and has no shame in sending [[BossInMookClothing Demon Guardians]] against you often.
* ''DynastyWarriors'' and ''SamuraiWarriors'' tend to not be too difficult, [[ThatOneBoss some bosses]] and the [[ThatOneLevel occasional stage]] aside. Then you're introduced to Samurai Warriors 3 and its bonus mode known as Murasame Castle. Let's note here that the Murasame Castle challenge is, in fact, based on an early Famicom game of the same name, which was not exactly known for playing fair either. [[OhCrap They literally brought back every single obstacle in the Famicom game to Samurai Warriors 3.]] Beating the first form of the castle, with its death traps, damage floors, and other unpleasant surprises, is tricky enough. [[UpToEleven Good luck with the castle's second form]], which you have to beat to receive the TrueEnding.
* ''VideoGame/{{Bayonetta}}'' usually isn't too bad in terms of its difficulty (the unforgiving [[PressXToNotDie Quick-Time Events]] not withstanding) on Normal and below. However, the jump from Normal to Hard is outright staggering. Regular enemies have more health, attack a ''lot'' faster and do way more damage than they did previously. Sometimes its easy to forget you even have a [[LifeMeter life bar]]. For extra pain, why not equip the Gaze of Despair, which makes the enemies ''even stronger and faster''? [[BulletTime Witch Time]] is a huge saviour when it comes to this mode. Oh wait! [[HarderThanHard Nonstop Infinity]] [[FreudWasRight Climax]] mode disables that! Enjoy!
* ''VideoGame/{{Deadpool}}'' warns you that the Ultra-Violence level should be played alone, or you might beat the crap out of anyone nearby in frustration. This is especially true if you're doing a fresh run (i.e. not NewGamePlus). Enemies have acres of health, do insane amounts of damage (a basic assault rifle goon, while a minor annoyance in normal difficulty, will outright kill you with just a few bullets), and there's no wiggle room: if you screw up just once, you're severely punished. Screw up again, and you're dead. This difficulty level also makes bosses an exercise in frustration, as most suddenly get a one-hit-kill attack that can, and frequently does, come out of nowhere. On top of that, giant mooks will mow you down, as the Tubbies and Ice Men rip you a new butthole over and over and over again.

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** ''VideoGame/DmCDevilMayCry'' takes the NintendoHard of Hell and Hell mode to a zen level with the boss of the Vergil's Downfall, Hollow Vergil. Attacks which masquerade as other attacks during their telegraphing phase? Check. Attacks which have split-second evade windows? Check. Attacks which have split-second evade windows that change pattern for the last third of the fight? Check.

* ''The Legend Of Kage'' (NES). You're a {{One Hit Point Wonder}} unless you get a crystal ball...and taking a hit at that point will cost you the extra power-ups the crystal grants. Ninjas fly from EVERYWHERE and you practically need to turbo the sword button to block the incoming shurikens. Of course, the sword can't block the bombs that some ninjas throw...or the fire from the monks.

** Heaven and Hell mode does get quite dangerous when facing enemies with shields, environmental hazards, and enemies that explode when killed (Hell Wraths from DMC 3, which love to show you that simply spamming Ebony and Ivory won't always work).

* ''VideoGame/{{Bayonetta}}'' usually isn't too bad in terms of its difficulty (the unforgiving [[PressXToNotDie Quick-Time Events]] not withstanding) on Normal and below. However, the jump from Normal to Hard is outright staggering. Regular enemies have more health, attack a ''lot'' faster and do way more damage than they did previously. Sometimes its easy to forget you even have a [[HealthMeter life bar]]. For extra pain, why not equip the Gaze of Despair, which makes the enemies ''even stronger and faster''? [[BulletTime Witch Time]] is a huge saviour when it comes to this mode. Oh wait! [[HarderThanHard Nonstop Infinity]] [[FreudWasRight Climax]] mode disables that! Enjoy!

* ''Deadpool'' warns you that the Ultra-Violence level should be played alone, or you might beat the crap out of anyone nearby in frustration. This is especially true if you're doing a fresh run (i.e. not NewGamePlus). Enemies have acres of health, do insane amounts of damage (a basic assault rifle goon, while a minor annoyance in normal difficulty, will outright kill you with just a few bullets), and there's no wiggle room: if you screw up just once, you're severely punished. Screw up again, and you're dead. This difficulty level also makes bosses an exercise in frustration, as most suddenly get a one-hit-kill attack that can, and frequently does, come out of nowhere. On top of that, giant mooks will mow you down, as the Tubbies and Ice Men rip you a new butthole over and over and over again.

* ''DynastyWarriors'' and ''SamuraiWarriors'' tend to not be too difficult, [[ThatOneBoss some bosses]] and the [[ThatOneLevel occasional stage]] aside. Then you're introduced to Samurai Warriors 3 and its bonus mode known as Murasame Castle. Let's note here that the Murasame Castle challenge is, in fact, based on an early Famicom game of the same name, which was not exactly known for playing fair either. [[OhCrap They literally brought back every single obstacle in the Famicom game to Samurai Warriors 3.]] Beating the first form of the castle, with its death traps, damage floors, and other unpleasant surprises, is tricky enough. [[UpToEleven Good luck with the castle's second form]], which you have to beat to receive the TrueEnding.

* ''WarriorsOfMightAndMagic'' has several extremely hard levels: The third one is a complicated maze full of golems and gargoyles and a bottomless chasm ''in the main nexus area''. Then we have the City Of Magic: say hello, to a long, frustrating level filled with [[DemonicSpiders Minotaurs]] and [[GoddamnBats Draining Eyes]], often in the very same room. The last level combine a maze of stone bridges suspended upon an abyss with lots of powerful demons, and has no shame in sending [[BossInMookClothing Demon Guardians]] against you often.

*** [[YourMileageMayVary Except maybe for DMC3]]. The combat system is often unnecessarily restrictive since you can't change style or equiped weapons whenever you want. Before facing a boss or tough enemy for the first time, you have absolutely no way to know which style or weapon is more appropriate, making this TrialAndErrorGameplay to some extent. And if you die because of that, unless you have yellow spheres [[CheckPointStarvation you have to redo the mission from the beginning]]… DMC 4 allows Dante to switch styles anytime, thankfully.

* The 8-bit era ''NinjaGaiden'' games are notoriously difficult. Gamers who could clear ''Game/MegaMan'' and ''Battletoads'' in their sleep would curse about trying to clear any of them (the first was by far the hardest, but all of them were steep challenges).

* ''{{Strider}}''. But that's part of what makes it so ''awesome''.